Luckily this does not come up often but I'd like to see what the Rennlisters expect.

 

Used parts - If the stuff comes broken, then you should send another one. It may behoove you to test certain parts. The shipping charges are a sticky wicket for you as the sender. If it breaks LATER, well, I think thats sort of SOL for the buyer. Maybe 30 days. But from purchase - you can't buy a used *thing* and expect it to sit on a shelf and then install it a year later and return it if it does not work. You aren't Santa.

New Parts - well, this is different. You are distributing the part from Porsche. Do they have a warranty? If they don't, that can be expensive for you. If they do - just facilitate that.

Anyone pushing harder than this is trying to get something out of you 'Extra". And there are alot of people like that.

My good friend and mentor Bill used to say (he died) "There are many people in this world who believe every interaction where there is a transaction needs to have a "kink" where they screw someone or get the good end of the deal - don't be one of them" He believed the best interactions were when both parties were happy with the outcome - only.

 

Replace the part, split the shipping.

 

Porsche will only cover the part and that's it which to many (not all) seems fair.

 

Ah - we are talking about labor.

What if the part was damaged WITH the labor? BY the labor? What if its a huge amount of labor for an inexpensive part? Again - you aren't Santa.

 

Exactly. You are a distributor - you can only facilitate the manufacturer warranty - and there is no labor in that as you suggest.

 

Hi

I am in the Computer business and for my Computer shop we have always had the same policy... WE (ourselves) always guarantee personally everything we sell...

Forget the manufacturer guarantee, guarantee it personally...

Obviously we return faulty parts to the manufacturer and "sometimes" we get our money back and sometimes we dont, but if we do it our way , the CUSTOMER is always happy, and in the long term its paid off from personal recommendation and return business, plus you can live with yourself, knowing you have done the best for your customers...

All the best Brett

 

A new part - replace including shipping of that part to the customer.
Return shipping of the failed part if I want it back is subject to the situation.

If a Porsche part I like to get the part back before sending another one.

Different situations require different solutions - However, like you Mark, I always err in the customers favor.

Slogan over my desk - careful, winning the battle may mean you lose the war.

 

The question can get more interesting if we start selling aftermarket cam gears. God forbid one fails or does not have the proper life expectancy then what.

 

Also what about when the $10 part had $75 in shipping to get it half way around the world. As you can see the issue can be complex.

 

That is why it is important to be the distributor of the part and not designer/manufacturer of that part.
Thin line I know but we are all in the same boat.

I did not design and manufacture the Porsche TB. I sell it on their behalf as a middle man. If it fails my liability is for the part.

 

Mark,

I have a real world example (me) that I wanted to share. I ordered a re-built torque tube from you several years ago. When it arrived, one of the rubber grommets that holds the counter weight inside the torque tube was flat wore out, and by the time the tube had reached me, the weight was clanging around in the tube free from one of the rubber isolators.

I paid to ship the TT back, and you paid to ship the replacement to me. So in retrospect, I had to pay shipping twice and you once. So it was 1/3 to you, 2/3 to me, which if memory serves, was about $60 dollars each way.....and I still felt like that was a fair deal.


So, if you replace the part and split the shipping as mentioned above, that is a very fair practice in my opinion....

 

If you did not screwup all I expect is 'replace the part'. If you sometimes do more, then that is exceeding expectations. Not a bad thing, but not required.

If you have obviously screwed up by shipping me the wrong part or an obviously bad part then it is a different thing. Its not that I expect more on the backend. I expect you to get it right. The hit I take for getting a bad or wrong part is much more than the cost of the shipping. If you offer to help with the shipping or something that helps emotionally, and I appreciate it, but we still both lose.

Examples:
I order a rebuilt steering rack for a late car, but get one for an early car. It is in a box from the rebuilder that says it is a late rack. In this case I just ordered other parts I needed to make it work and paid for them. Becaues I could make it work. If I could not have made it work I might have asked the vendor to help with the shipping, but I recognize that it the rebuilders screwup and not the sellers. Had the box said that it was an early rack I would have wanted the seller to do more.
I order a 944 S2 radiator off a vendors website, and got a S radiator. The shipping cost almost as much as the part. It is possible I could have gotten them to help with another two rounds of shipping but it just was not worth the hassle. I Jerry-rigged the wrong radiator to work, but the vendor went down several notches on my 'who to use for parts' list.

 

That won't stop the lawyers from asking for the kitchen sink.

 

I swallow hard and ship it - that is all part of customer service which is a part of overhead.

You also hope it does not happen often